An average of 40hrs a month? That would make 480hrs a year
. Not much at all, especially when you are on a visa program
. In the good old days
we used to fly triple that amount as CFI. But, as I understand, we were not limited to the flightschool which provided the visa as is now. We could seek CFI employment anywhere in the US, but were still limited to the time remaining on the visa (J-1). So, after 2 years in FAA land, we would come home with anywhere between 1000 and 1600 hrs total time. Some were lucky and got a lot of MEL time as well. Some even got turbine time, as their flightschool also had a part 135 operation, and they would let CFIs fly F/O from time to time
.
People get fired "all the time" if they mess up. Depends on how badly, but it isn`t easy to get hired at another flightschool nowadays, as the number of pilots who are training is at an alltime low, and there are fewer flightschools around. Hopefully, some years down the airways... There will be, perhaps not a pilot shortage, but a pilot recruitment scenario where you again can be treated as a potential longterm employee, and not as a way for an airline to get out of paying for your training.
Fingers crossed for that one.